Old crop soybeans posted a strong 21 cent gain over the weekend to open this past Monday with a Monday statewide average of $14.82. A 15 cent loss on the next day gave way to a strong recovery for the remainder of the week that carried the old crop market to a Friday closing average of $15.14, its highest close since April (Figure 1). The Friday average left the market with an overall 53 cent gain for the week from the previous Friday closing price. Eleven of the fourteen major state markets are submitting quotes each weekday. High individual market daily quote was $15.54 on Thursday at West Memphis. Low quote of the period was $14.43 at both Jonesboro and Des Arc on Tuesday. Closing quotes on Friday across reporting markets ranged from a $14.89 low at both Des Arc and Jonesboro to a $15.51 high at West Memphis. The end-of-week quotes placed the market price range at 62 cents, a 13 cent widening from the prior week spread.

Fig. 1 – AR 2013 Crop Soybean Cash Market Prices (May 19-23, 2014)

The variation in the old crop market was closely paralleled this week in the 2014 New Crop Soybean Booking market as price gained 17 cents over the weekend, weakened slightly on Tuesday, and then moved to new heights through the remainder of the week (Figure 2). The market opened on Monday at a statewide average of $12.38, reached $12.71 statewide on Thursday, and finished on Friday at $12.67, a mark that was 46 cents above the previous Friday daily average closing price and a new high for new crop beans. High individual market quote of the week was $12.86 at West Memphis on Thursday. The low individual market quote for the week was at Augusta with $12.04 on Tuesday. All fourteen regular markets continued to provide quotes during the past week. The end-of-week price spread extended from a high of $12.82 at West Memphis to a low of $12.42 at Augusta. These quotes left the closing market spread at 40 cents, one cent wider than the gap that had held steady for four straight previous weeks.

Fig. 2 – AR 2014 New Crop Soybean Market Prices (May 19-23, 2014)

(Market average prices stated in this report are unweighted averages of the state markets surveyed by NASS. Price data was based on USDA LR GR111 Arkansas Daily Grain Reports.)